LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and Punjab government, seeking their responses on a petition challenging the removal of Shoaib Dastagir from the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP). LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan, which took up the petition filed by a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislator, directed the respondents to submit their response within two weeks. Punjab government removed Dastagir last week following a rift with Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh who he claimed was appointed over his head. The petition states that pre-mature transfers in the police force violate the Police Order, 2002 and the Punjab government’s rules of business. It maintains that the Punjab government, instead of implementing the Police Order (2002) has “further politicised the police force and shown the door to recalcitrant and independent-minded officers without any regard for their independence and tenure protected by the law”. At a previous hearing, the respective counsels for the federal and provincial governments had raised objections on the admissibility of the petition, saying such matters cannot be brought to courts.